Sunday, January 27, 2008

Stack Em' Up!

There was a time in the past when every trip to the video store included a hunt for the Woody Allen film: Husbands and Wives - and, never, to any avail. Now, let's make it clear: video shops were once as regular as my vitamins, as usual as my breath, as constant as the sun. Every night. Every single night. Despite the melange of shop floors tread upon over four longish years of Blockbuster and Independent customership there was never a copy of this long sought after, and much acclaimed by K-before-K, film. It was, apparently "the best Allen movie to be seen". Until tonight. The White Knight on the corner (a Euroversion of Mac's Milk) has a basement video store with an array of titles. Everything from Jesus Camp (great, yet freaky, documentary that was the impetus to my mac being dropped on the floor last Valentine's Day...) to all of the Six Feet Under T.V. series (might look into that). There it was with a wide selection of Woody films, indicating the person in charge of acquisitions must have some taste.....I snatched it up and here I sit enjoying and watching after a yummy and spontaneous meal of 'stacks'.

The Stacks were excellent. We came up with the notion while standing on the street on the way back from an evening drink on the square (yah!! Way to finish your reports!). They turned out amazingly - and they were dead simple to make.

What to get (you could really do just about anything you wanted with these - go nuts):

What to do (keep in mind the oven is broken - under normal circumstances, and when ours returns from MediaMarkt, I would broil/grill these rather then frying them)After warming the oil in two pans I added the tofu to one and let the onions and mushroom soften in their own good time. I browned the tofu and added some basil, flipping them occasionally with a total cooking time of about 15 minutes.

After the onions became nice and squishy I added the zucchini. K busied himself with taking on the responsibility of cooking the red pepper slices over the open flame. To quote: "I might swear more aggressively if I burn myself, but you are more likely to burn yourself" - he was right. I let him enjoy the flame.

I made a quick tomato sauce with fresh tomato and some canned tomatoes, to which I added some fresh coriander. I added the sauce to two wide bowls - just to coat the bottom. I then stacked the remaining ingredients on top of the red pepper bits. Red Pepper - tofu - mushroom/onion - zucchini - tofu - mushroom/onion - zucchini. Yummy. It was amazingly good to eat. I enjoyed mine with rice cakes, and K ate a flame roasted pita.